System for collecting seepage water in buildings

ABSTRACT

Perimeter and transverse troughs, possibly 3-5 inches wide and deep, can be formed in an existing building subterranean concrete floor, with the perimeter trough being immediately adjacent and extended along the foundation wall and the traverse trough connecting the perimeter trough to a nearby sump pit formed in the floor. Each trough can be formed by cutting narrow shallow grooves outlining its desired location, and then breaking away the concrete there between. Water seepage through the wall will collect in the perimeter trough and drain away via the transverse trough to the sump pit, eliminating water pooling on the building floor itself. The troughs can be covered by separate metal or plastic covers, secured by adhesives, sealants and/or nails relative to the floor and/or foundation wall.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A recently or currently constructed building typically has a perimeterfooting buried in the ground below the frost line, a perimeterfoundation wall supported on the footing and rising vertically to abovethe ground, and perimeter side walls supported on the foundation walland upstanding as the lowermost building walls. The space within thefoundation walls is backfilled with stone that is leveled horizontallyinto generally horizontal alignment with the tops of the footings,forming a solid base. A concrete floor is then poured over the leveledbase, to extend laterally to the perimeter foundation and to overlie thefootings.

The sequence of fabricating these concrete components dictates that thefootings are poured first, the foundation walls are then poured to reston the footings, and the floor is lastly poured over the packed base andextended to the foundation walls and over the footings. The sequentialpouring creates primarily mechanical interfaces between the adjacentcomponents, which frequently allow seepage of adjacent outside groundwater through the foundation wall.

OBJECT AND FEATURES OF THE INVENTION

A general object of this invention is to provide a reliable system forprecluding pooling over the concrete interior floor of seepage waterleaked through the foundation walls from the immediately adjacentoutdoor ground.

The invention specifically provides a narrow and shallow perimetertrough in the floor immediately adjacent the foundation wall, where thattrough or a separate but linked trough can direct collected seepagewater from the perimeter trough to a nearby sump pit, whereby collectedseepage water can be drained thereto without accumulating on the floor.

The invention further provides appropriate covers that can be secured tothe wall or floor when positioned over the trough to hide the trough forsafety and/or aesthetic purposes.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention provides a perimeter floor trough system for collectingwater seepage through building foundation walls, operable to precludenormal water pooling on the adjacent concrete floor.

The invention further provides for trough routing of the collectedperimeter water to a sump pit, for reliably discharging the seepagewater totally from the building.

The invention can be easily incorporated in existing buildings, bybreaking the concrete floor immediately adjacent the foundation wall toform a narrow perimeter trough possibly several inches both deep andwide, and breaking a similar trough in the floor to extend transverselybetween the perimeter trough and a nearby sump pit.

The inventive troughs are preferably enclosed by separate coversoverlying the troughs, the trough covers also returning the floor to asubstantially level condition while isolating and hiding the troughs.

The trough covers further can have several spaced openings suited to fita water hose there through, to provide for powered water discharge intothe trough for flushing out silt, sand, bugs and dirt buildup in thetrough that reduces effective water flow.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

This and other objects, features or advantages of the invention will bemore fully understood and appreciated after considering the followingdescription of the invention, which includes the accompanying drawings,wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a building footing, foundationwall, and basement floor in section, illustrating also the perimeter andtransverse troughs, sump pit and cooperating covers overlying thetroughs;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view as seem generally from lines 2-2 inFIG. 1, showing greater details of the perimeter trough and overlyingcover;

FIGS. 2 a and 2 b are views illustrating cross-sections of two differentcover embodiments; and

FIG. 3 is a perspective view, from the wall side, of a corner troughcover used in the system of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention provides an improved drainage system to collect and removewater seepage through the perimeter foundation wall 10 or through itsinterface 12 with an underlying footing 14, to eliminate water poolingon the top surface of the adjacent floor 16. The floor 16 would bepoured over the stone base 17 and the footing 14, and normally extendedto the foundation wall 10.

The drainage system includes a perimeter trough 18 formed in the floor16 immediately adjacent the foundation wall 10, which trough might be3-5 inches deep and wide. The trough 18 might be formed by sawing ashallow groove (not shown) in the substantially flat floor 16, in adirection generally parallel to but spaced from the wall 10. The narrowportion of the concrete floor between the groove and wall then can bebroken away with a jack-hammer or the like, leaving the perimeter trough18 after the broken pieces have been removed.

Alternatively, the trough 18 could possibly be formed using only ajack-hammer, with a wedge bit used to form the groove, and a pointer bitused to break up the concrete between the cut and the wall 10.

Formed in either manner, or even by other means, the bottom of theperimeter trough 18 typically would be the horizontal top of underlyingfooting 14, while the opposite trough sides would be the generallyvertical foundation wall 10 and the edge of the adjacent remaining floor16.

A transverse trough 20 can likewise be formed in the floor 16 to connectthe perimeter trough 18 with a nearby sump pit 22 formed below thefloor. The transverse trough might also be possibly 3-5 inches wide anddeep. The transverse trough bottom would typically be the stone base 24,while the trough sides would be the adjacent remaining floor 16.

Although not shown herein, a conventional sump pump would be mounted inthe sump pit 22 and connected by piping or hoses to drain the collectedsump water to outside of the building, according to code. The sump pumpwould be operated automatically by a typical control suited to maintainthe water level in the pit 22 below a maximum height which would be setto be below the floor 16.

The perimeter and transverse troughs 18, 20 preferably would be enclosedby separate covers 28, 30 sized to overlie the trough and then besecured in place. The trough covers 28, 30 not only isolate and hide thetroughs, but also return the floor to a substantially level condition.

More specifically, each perimeter trough cover 28 in transverse crosssection might be “L” shaped, extended uniformly along its length. Thelong leg 38 of the “L” shaped cover would be sized to span the width ofthe trough 18 and then overlie the adjacent part of the floor remotelyof the wall by 1-2 inches, more or less. The short cover leg 40 would beextended vertically to overlie the adjacent upstanding foundation wall,by possibly 1-2 inches. When so positioned, a nail 42 or the like can bedriven or shot into the wall, through the vertical leg 40, to secure thecover as positioned against the wall 10 and the floor 16.

The perimeter trough cover 28 might be provided in six foot lengths tobe convenient to handle, as many covers typically would be needed whenarranged end-to-end to completely overlie a perimeter floor trough 18adjacent the foundation wall 10, or the building perimeter.

The transverse trough cover 30 can be flat, and possibly 5-7 incheswide, suited to span the transverse trough 20 and have side edges thatwould overlap the floor 16 on both sides of the trough 18. Thetransverse cover 30 at the wall end would be butted against the sideedge of the positioned and secured perimeter cover 28, at the long leg38. The transverse trough cover 30 again could possibly be provided insix foot lengths, and cut to length on site as needed.

A right-angle corner trough cover 46 (illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 3)could overlie the perimeter troughs meeting at an interior wall corner.Each corner cross section would be “L” shaped, with leg 48 suited to bepositioned against the floor and span the trough and overlie the floorremotely of the wall by possibly an inch or so, and with leg 50 extendedvertically and overlying the adjacent upstanding foundation wall bypossibly 1-2 inches. Again, nails 42 or the like could be driven or shotinto the wall, through either or both of the vertical legs 50, to securethe trough cover 46 as positioned in the wall corner.

Spaced protrusions 54 might be formed to project off of the rear wallside of the vertical leg 50, suited to engage the wall and space theadjacent remaining portions of the vertical leg face slightly from thewall. This would allow water flowing downwardly on the wall to passbetween the leg face and wall, so as to reach the underlying trough 18.The corner trough cover could be molded as a single piece of a rubber ora plastic.

Two different but related embodiments of the perimeter trough covers 28a and 28 b are illustrated in FIGS. 2 a and 2 b. Thus, these troughcovers might be extruded lengthwise of the cover, and have reinforcinglongitudinal ribs 58 formed along the long leg 38 a or 38 b.

The perimeter trough cover 28 a in FIG. 2 a has its short vertical leg40 a formed flat, which might be fitted flush against a flat smoothvertical building wall, establishing a seal like fit between the walland cover.

The perimeter trough cover 28 b instead has longitudinal ribs 60 formedoff of the outer face of the short leg 40 b, to space the short legslightly from the wall, whereby water might then run down the wallbehind the cover leg. By having the rib 60 slope downwardly, asillustrated in FIG. 2 b, the rib and/or the vertical leg could flexslightly in passing over any bump or ridge in the foundation wall,thereby keeping the wall spaced from the adjacent leg portion andallowing water to drain downwardly on the wall past the gapped coverleg, to reach the underlying trough.

Also, the corner trough cover 46 further could have one large orpossibly two smaller openings 52 in the leg 48, sized to allow a waterhose (not shown) to be fitted through it. By curving the inserted hoseend slightly, water could be discharged axially into and along thetrough, in both directions from the corner, to flush out collected dirt,silt, dead bugs or the like therein that could preclude good drainageflow of any collected water along the trough.

The corner cover 46 might be 10-12 inches long from its exterior corner.The use of a corner trough cover would eliminate the need for handtrimming 45 degree angled corner cuts in the otherwise 90 degree meeting“L” shaped covers 28. Nonetheless, the corner trough cover 46 might beeliminated, and the adjacent perimeter covers could be hand trimmed withany necessary 45 degree angled cuts, or the like, to meet better at thecorner; and water flushing hose holes could be drilled in the cover nearthe finished corner.

In installing the trough covers, a sealant and/or an adhesive might beused between the cover and floor and/or between the cover and wallsuited to affix the cover/floor or cover/wall together. The covers mightbe made of plastic or metal, suited to resist rust or corrosion, whileyet being economically fabricated to the typically needed or standardlengths, such as the six feet length mentioned above.

While several embodiments have been illustrated, minor changes could bemade without departing from the inventive teaching. Accordingly, theinvention is to be limited only by the following claims.

1. A system for collecting water seepage through a concrete foundationwall to minimize or prevent accumulation on an adjacent concrete floor,where a sump pit is formed in the floor spaced from the wall, comprisinga perimeter trough formed in the concrete floor immediately adjacent thewall and extended along the wall, a transverse trough formed in thefloor and extended between and connecting the perimeter trough and thesump pit, and separate covers mounted over the respective perimeter andtransverse troughs.
 2. A system according to claim 1, further includingeach separate perimeter trough cover being secured to the adjacent wallby one or more nails or the like being shot or otherwise being driveninto the wall.
 3. A system according to claim 2, further including eachtrough being of the order between 3-5 inches wide and deep.
 4. A systemaccording to claim 3, further including a sealant and/or adhesive beingapplied between the transverse trough cover and floor immediatelyadjacent the transverse trough for securing said cover over the trough.5. A system according to claim 1, further including each trough beingformed by cutting one or more narrow shallow groove(s) in the concretefloor outlining its desired location, and then breaking away theconcrete next to and up to the groove(s).
 6. A system according to claim1, further including each perimeter trough cover being generally “L”shaped with a horizontal leg and a vertical leg respectively abuttingthe floor and the adjacent wall, and means securing the vertical leg tothe wall.
 7. A system according to claim 6, further including said meanssecuring the vertical leg to the wall being comprised as one or morenails or the like being shot or otherwise driven through the verticalleg and into the wall.
 8. A system according to claim 7, furtherincluding each trough being of the order between 3-5 inches wide anddeep.
 9. A system according to claim 6, further including a cornertrough cover piece suited to fit across an interior 90 degree corner andhaving a single horizontal leg and two vertical legs angled at 90degrees and meeting at a closed corner, the horizontal legs being sizedto span the trough at an interior corner of the foundation wall and tooverlie edge portions of the floor adjacent the trough, and the verticallegs being sized to overlie part of the foundation wall above thetrough, and means to secure the corner piece relative to the foundationwall.
 10. A system according to claim 9, further including the cornerpiece horizontal leg having openings therein overlying the trough,effective to allow a water hose or the like to be fitted through theopening for flushing out the trough with water discharged from the hose.11. A system according to claim 9, further including the corner piecebeing secured to the adjacent wall by one or more nails or the likebeing shot or otherwise being driven through the vertical legs and intothe wall.